My 1981 GL1100 is showing some signs of leakage of oil on the front forks. BUT. I can jack up the air pressure to 25 psig and it holds. How do I determine if the seals are shot if it is holding this much air pressure?

I do not profess to be an "expert" mechanic by any stretch of our imaginations.
That said, I did have a fork seal leaking oil, one side, and oil was on the upper tube and running down on the front fender, etc.
Pushing down on the forks with the front brake held recreated the oil situation.
In researching my problem I found a motorcross mechanic who keeps the rubber bushings, the ones on the top of the lower forks, clean by doing a bit of preventive maintenance. Motor Cross, Gold Wing, debris can still build up and affect the fork seal.
So, he slides a 1.5 inch wide piece of plastic milk carton, with a small "J" shaped hook in the end, between the rubber seal and the fork. You slide it in about 3 inches or so, you get a feel for depth, sweep the perimeter of the tube, and the "hook" at the end brings up any debris. I did about 3 or 4 OCD passes. And there was junk under there, bad looking, gritty, nefarious junk.
This may not fix your current situation. It did work for me and I have not had any more leaks around that particular fork or the other one.

I do not profess to be an "expert" mechanic by any stretch of our imaginations.
That said, I did have a fork seal leaking oil, one side, and oil was on the upper tube and running down on the front fender, etc.
Pushing down on the forks with the front brake held recreated the oil situation.
In researching my problem I found a motorcross mechanic who keeps the rubber bushings, the ones on the top of the lower forks, clean by doing a bit of preventive maintenance. Motor Cross, Gold Wing, debris can still build up and affect the fork seal.
So, he slides a 1.5 inch wide piece of plastic milk carton, with a small "J" shaped hook in the end, between the rubber seal and the fork. You slide it in about 3 inches or so, you get a feel for depth, sweep the perimeter of the tube, and the "hook" at the end brings up any debris. I did about 3 or 4 OCD passes. And there was junk under there, bad looking, gritty, nefarious junk.
This may not fix your current situation. It did work for me and I have not had any more leaks around that particular fork or the other one.

You can find a tool made for that on ebay, forget what they call it, but a piece of thin plastic made as you describe works just as well.

With no God over the state, the state then becomes not the defender of liberty but the definer of liberty.

BUT. I can jack up the air pressure to 25 psig and it holds. How do I determine if the seals are shot if it is holding this much air pressure?

It happens a lot that they will hold air pressure but the oil leaks out. I imagine it is because the air holds the oil against the seal and the volume of oil leaking out is really very little compared to the volume of pressurized air in the forks. 25 PSI won't hurt it, imagine what the pressure is when the forks compress.

With no God over the state, the state then becomes not the defender of liberty but the definer of liberty.

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